Another Two Pounds.. Gettin' back on the wagon

This has been a good week. After a couple weeks of a somewhat lackluster workout routine, the wife and I went through the process of moving to a new place across town. Every day for a week, I was loading and unloading boxes and furniture from one apartment to another, and it gave me one hell of work out. The scale has been resting on 306 pounds all week and I knew that it would only be a matter of time that it would go down. So today I weighed in and found that I have lost 2 more pounds!

The good thing about our new locations is that it is much quieter and I am already getting such better sleep. I think people underestimate the value of good sleep when it comes to weight loss. Sleeping better means my body heals quicker, and thus means I can work out more often while being less sore. A second good reason this new location is great is that it is a nice jog from my gym. I'm already getting excited at the thought of a new routine that allows me to jog to the gym, and jog back. good times.

I must remind myself, I'm healthier, but I am still not healthy. Even though I've lost 36 pounds, I still weigh 304 pounds and am considerably overweight. I think I may have been getting a bit content with my success and I need to change that. I'm going to hold myself to some pretty lofty goals this week. I'm in a new setting and must create a new routine with it.

Money Raised in Pledges, and flat donations - 1983.28
Tell your friends to donate now or make a pledge to the Fatathon!

What progress is looking like..

So today marked an important milestone in the fatathon as it was the first time that I looked at myself and actually noticed that I was smaller. This whole time my scale had been telling me one thing, but my eyes were telling me another as I haven't felt as if I've looked any smaller. So I took this random photo taken of me today and put it next to a picture of myself at my brothers wedding a year and a half ago and lo and behold, I think I'm getting somewhere!

Bubba and Liz - 03/09

Finally, Progress!!

After 3+ weeks of frustration and seeing my damn scale read the same number day in and day out, I've Finally Made Progress! I've now lost two more pounds bringing my total weight loss to 34 pounds. Being worth $43.73 per pound, and getting $400 in flat donations to the Liz Army. We have now raised $1,886.82 in pledged and made donations to the Liz Army and the National Brain Tumor foundation.

We haven't received a new pledge or donation in some time now, and I ask that if you have already pledged to the Fatathon, please help by emailing your friends, family, and co-workers and help spread the word. I would really appreciate it, and am very grateful to have all of your support!

Kevin

FRUSTRATION!!

It's been a 4 weeks since my last post and the reason why I haven't posted an update is simple, I haven't lost a single pound. I had originally accumulated a number of injuries, some from working out, but mostly due to the fact that my running shoes were 5 years old and no longer suited to support me. I healed up, and as of last week, really felt like I was getting my momentum back and hoped that my weigh in on Sunday would result in actual progress. But again, I weighed in and am still at 308 pounds. I'm at the point where I want to throw my scale out of the window.

Words can't express how frustrated I am at the moment, and I am doubly frustrated because after a pretty intense game of softball yesterday, I am now injured again. I now have a re-pulled hamstring (that I injured when this plateau began) , and have either sprained, or broken my right wrist after diving for a ball. I'll get x-rays tomorrow if it doesn't get any better.

So what to do? I realize that I need to change things up somehow, and a friend of mine has quite generously offered to sign us up for a local boxing gym so that he can be there to train with me and show support.

But for now, what should I do with a bum leg on one side, and a gimpy arm on the other? I'm afraid to lay off to heal as its what caused the month long plateau I'm currently in. But for the life of me, I can't figure out how I should be training.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I promise though that this week, I am not going to be at 308, even if it kills me.

Fatathon Breaks 30lb Mark!!!

Here we are at the 2 1/2 month mark and we've broken the 30 pound barrier! This last week didn't come without a cost though. I did this weigh in on Sunday, and by the next day was a bit hesitant to put it up because I accumulated a number of injuries and decided that in order to heal that I would need to take a break for a few days (not on my eating habits of course, just exercise). I've done this knowing that I'd be putting a couple pounds back on in the process so even though my weigh in was really great on Sunday, I knew that that number would be temporary and was actually back up to last weeks weight within two days. In the last week I have given myself:

A pulled right hamstring
Back Spasms
and
A battered left leg complete with mild road rash

Not to fear though, I jumped back on the horse again last night with a 2.5 mile run, and although my legs felt terrible, my lungs felt great, and I think my break is over at least. So my goal this week is simply to be back below the 30 pound mark. I've started to play weekly basketball games with my friends and it has been amazing. If you live in the Seattle area and want to play with us, please feel free to send me an email. I'm also playing on a Sunday softball league which I anticipate will also be a great time, and a good way to exercise.

That's all for now. Here's to trying to stay under 310 for next Sunday!

30 Pounds - almost there!!

2 more pounds lost and now I am 1.5 pounds from reaching the 30 pound mark!!!! Now that I'm home from tour and the Seattle weather has been amazing, I've started to supplement my workouts with weekly basketball games with friends and have also joined a softball team. If you'd like to come join us for our weekly basketball sessions, shoot me an email. Things were good last week, but I must admit that it has been hard getting back on the exercise wagon after two weeks of touring and little sleep.

The pledges for the fatathon have slowed down a bit so I'm going to start working on some more creative ways to spread the word about this important cause and hopefully find more folks who would be willing to make a pledge and be involved. If you have any ideas or have any skills that you would like to volunteer, please get in touch and let me know. Some ideas I've had are to make a video documenting what the fatathon is about, and post it on the internet making it available for all of you who have pledged to send to your friends and family.

Thanks to all who have pledged and who keep sending your words of encouragement. The support really means a lot, especially during the rough weeks. With 1.5 pounds to go to reach the 30 pound mark, I'm hellbent on making it happen this week!

If you'd like to learn more about Liz, my dear friend who has motivated me to do this, you can check out her blog below.

Liz Army Blog
http://thelizarmy.blogspot.com/



money raised for the Liz Army and Cancer Research thus far - $1646.30

POST TOUR WEIGH IN!!

My last weigh in was two weeks ago as I was set to leave for a two week tour with my band. I was concerned how being on the road would effect my progress as touring often makes it impossible to exercise, offers very little sleep, and gives few opportunities to find healthy food. I was also without my scale (which I actually use daily when I am home) so I had no way of really knowing if what I was doing on the road was working.

But somehow, someway, upon returning home and weighing in this morning, I was very pleased to discover that I lost 5 more POUNDS! I ran during the beginning of the tour but then got very sick and was unable to do the daily runs that I was hoping to do. I was worried that I wouldn't make any progress as I had to temporarily put the health of my voice over my weight loss goals as to not jeopardize the tour. But my band mates, Ryan and Ben, were incredibly supportive over the two week journey, always making an extra effort to avoid convenient fast food, and instead driving a bit further out of our way to find places where I can eat healthy and stay on track.

I've realized that losing weight on tour is not as hard as I thought it would be. Being on tour means that you are never in one place and for the most part never have a chance to really rest. I may have not been running or going to the gym every day, but I was constantly on my feet, performing nightly (which is a work out in itself), and loading and unloading gear. There's a lot to be said about just always being on the move, and I think in the end the daily grind and constant activity really helped me a great deal.

We received another $100 pledged to the Liz Army from my Auntie Keala! Combined with my 5 more pounds of lost weight, we have now raised

$1558.85 !!!

I feel the 300 pound barrier right around the corner and am so excited and determined to break through it! Thanks everyone!